UK Nanotechnologies and Food Discussion Group Holds Initial Meeting

The U.K. Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) Nanotechnologies and Food Discussion Group has held its first meeting to consider advancing recommendations from a House of Lords Committee on Science and Technology 2010 report. Fifteen stakeholders from consumer organizations, academia, industry, and government departments met on January 13, 2011, to “exchange information between different sectors within the nanotechnologies and food groups,” according to FSA.

Established to address concerns that the U.K.’s food and packaging sectors
were too secretive about nanotechnology, the group reportedly plans to
meet three or four times annually with a review after 18 months. Issues to be
discussed include (i) European Union regulations and definitions, (ii) guidance
for assessing nanomaterials, (iii) intelligence gathering on nanotechnology
research conducted by the food industry, and (iv) a proposal to create a U.K.
register of “nanofoods” on the market. See FSA Press Release, January 12, 2011;
FoodProductionDaily.com, January 13, 2011.